


Five cat facts everyone needs to know

by TheGardenFairy



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cats, Dogs, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Kim Mingyu is Whipped, Light Angst, M/M, Memories, Mingyu is puppy, Pillow Fights, Wonwoo is a cat fight me, grumpy jihoon - Freeform, mild panic attack, now with second chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-01-30 19:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21433813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGardenFairy/pseuds/TheGardenFairy
Summary: Ni hao: yoNi hao: look at what I just foundNi hao sent a link[article][Just some kitty things I see my cat doing all the time]Ni hao: that's literally wonwoo hyung lolAt first glance, Mingyu didn't think this was accurate at all. But then, the memories started flooding in.
Relationships: Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu
Comments: 36
Kudos: 480





	1. Chapter 1

Mingyu had to close the game he was playing on his phone when a notification sound came and glitched it. He forcefully exhaled through his nose. What was the point of making money if he never bothered to buy a new phone? He was too attached to this one for no good reason.

He opened his notifications and saw that the reason behind his ruined gameplay was some messages by Minghao. Mingyu exhaled again. Minghao was literally in the next room over, couldn't he say whatever he wanted with his voice?

Mingyu opened the texts nevertheless.

**Ni hao:** yo

**Ni hao:** look at what I just found

**Ni hao sent a link**

[article][Just some kitty things I see my cat doing all the time]

**Ni hao:** that's literally wonwoo hyung lol

Mingyu blinked once. Was he serious? He was sending him cat articles? He tapped on the link anyway, because it wasn't like there was anything better to do now that his game crashed. It opened a flashy pink page, filled with emojis and hearts, most probably owned by a young woman. There were black, bold letters and random cat pictures around them. Mingyu begun reading.

_Hello friends! Is this your first time owning a cat and you want to know more about their behaviour? You clicked the right place!_

_I was so confused in the beginning when I started living my precious Princess Carolyn, but after so many months, I've come to understand her behaviour a little better and I wanted to share! Here are 5 useful things to know about your cat!_

~~

  1. _ Cats like snacks, especially if they find them themselves_

It was 3AM.

Mingyu couldn't believe his eyes. He woke up from his deep slumber from a weird noise that was coming from the kitchen. After the initial panic that a murderer has somehow broken in, his logic prevailed and he figured that it was probably one of his group members.

The first thing he did was check his phone to see what time it was. Did his alarm clock not ring and it was already time to wake up? It wasn't the first time he would have to rise before the sun for his schedules.

But no. It was 3AM. He definitely wasn't late for work, and neither were any of his group mates. Still, the scratching noise in the kitchen continued, and Mingyu had to reconsider his murderer theory. Suddenly, he heard the covers of Jihoon's bed being thrown to the side.

"Go check up on whoever that idiot is before I do and our kitchen turns into a crime scene." came his roommate’s raspy voice.

"What if it's a murderer and the kitchen turns into a crime scene anyway? I don't want to die." Mingyu whined.

"If you don't go, our room will also turn into a crime scene." was Jihoon's final reply before he lifted the covers all the way above his head and turned his back on Mingyu.

Mingyu yawned deeply and rolled to his side. He really had no choice, did he? He decided to make it quick. He jumped off his bed, making as little sound as possible, and walked out of his room.

There was barely any light coming from the kitchen. The intruder probably only had his phone's flashlight on as he rummaged through their stuff. Mingyu steeled his nerves and entered the room.

He immediately got both relieved and angry at the sight in front of him. The intruder was none other but Wonwoo. He was wearing that oversized t shirt he always wore to sleep and he was barefoot, proof that he must have just gotten out of bed. And like Mingyu expected, he had opened wide one of their cupboards and was fishing around between the packages, phone flashlight in hand.

When he heard him entering, Wonwoo turned to look at him with a startled expression. Mingyu crossed his arms in front of his chest. There was a moment that they just made eye contact like this, like Mingyu just caught the other doing something illegal and Wonwoo was going to get in major trouble for it.

Then Mingyu sighed and looked at what Wonwoo was trying to reach. There were only plastic tupperware and some stray instant noodles in the cupboard he was scavenging. What was he even trying to do? Unless...

"I can't believe you!" Mingyu exclaimed, trying to force as mush exasperation in his whisper as possible.

"What? If you were going to buy pepero why did you even put it so high that the rest of us can't reach it?" Wonwoo whispered back.

"I-" Mingyu blinked, but before he went off he remembered Jihoon in the next room.

There was a guitar in there. Mingyu wasn't taking any risks.

Apparently, Wonwoo didn't have such qualms.

"Now that you're here can you grab them for me?" he asked with a faint smile.

He was either ignoring the atmosphere or legitimately thought that it was completely normal to go steal someone else's snacks at 3AM in the morning. Mingyu was finally channeling his inner Jihoon, he was so going to tell Wonwoo off. It didn't matter he was older, he couldn't just interrupt his precious sleep and steal his food and expect everything to be fine.

"Please, Mingyu?" Wonwoo said quietly then and tilted his head.

And just like that, Mingyu deflated. Of course, that was why Wonwoo expected everything to be alright. Because Mingyu was weak. All it took was one look at the other’s disheveled hair and crooked glasses that were probably clumsily put on before Wonwoo left his bed, because otherwise he would be blind. Mingyu just couldn't stay mad.

He sighed once again and walked over to Wonwoo. He gently fixed his glasses and run a hand through his messy hair.

"You'll get cold if you walk around like this." Mingyu said and took off his slippers so Wonwoo could put them on.

Mingyu bet that his feet were already freezing. That boy just didn't have good blood circulation. Before Wonwoo could say anything, he reached the pepero that were on the top shelf and handed him the whole box.

"Ah, that's perfect. Thanks." Wonwoo hugged it to his chest. "I can't believe I can't reach shelves that you can." he huffed with a frown.

"Isn't your life just terrible?" Mingyu rolled his eyes.

"Right?" Wonwoo smiled.

That pulled a smile out of Mingyu as well.

"Just go." he shooed Wonwoo off.

Wonwoo did just that. He turned his back to him and walked to the door, looking way too excited for being awake at 3AM. Before he left, he turned to Mingyu again, with his hand touching the side of his glasses.

"Goodnight. And thank you." he said.

"Goodnight." was all Mingyu could say.

That was a different thank you than the previous one. This was not a thank you for the peperos, which still was a pretty big thing, the logical part of Mingyu's brain supplied.

As he returned to his room too, he felt like he was walking on a cloud. It was 3AM after a very tiring day, he should be feeling dead inside, but instead he felt warmth. His feet were cold and he wouldn't have a snack for the next week, but he was completely fine with it. He was _so_ weak.

He opened his room's door quietly, glancing at Jihoon's unmoving form on the bed. He closed the door behind him _extra_ quietly. He climbed up to his bed and hugged a pillow to his chest. All traces of sleep were gone now. He felt wide awake. It wasn't a good time for his stupid feelings to manifest in their physical form and torment him with a sleepless night. He had schedules the next day. He let out a high-pitched sigh and clutched the pillow to his chest tighter.

"Was it Wonwoo?" Jihoon's voice suddenly sounded.

"What?" Mingyu squeaked. He waited for a while. "How did you know?" he added.

"It's okay, Mingyu. Just... Sleep. It will be okay." Jihoon was unexpectedly understanding.

"Yeah... Goodnight hyung."

Mingyu rolled over and pulled his blanket underneath his chin. At least he didn't feel alone. No matter what, Jihoon always had his back. It was his heart that he kept wondering how it ended up in the next room over, along with his pepero.

_Note: Cats don't understand or care about your rules, so they will get the food even if you don't really want them to. _

~~

  1. _ Cats love tight spaces. They feel safer if you hold them tight. If you want a cat to calm down, just squeeze it._

Wonwoo rushed to the bathroom right after they left the stage. A manager followed right behind him, and Mingyu was not far away. Seungcheol came as well, like the concerned grandpa he was.

But Wonwoo locked the door behind him and didn't let anyone come inside. He turned on the faucet, and Mingyu couldn't hear anything else from inside the tiny room after that.

"Wonwoo-ya, please unlock the door. Everyone is worried about you." the manager was saying.

"Please Wonwoo, whatever it is, it's okay." Seungcheol was knocking on the door.

The longer the silence from the bathroom lasted, the sicker Mingyu felt. This wasn't going to work. This wasn't going to work at all.

"Wonwoo, can you confirm your physical health? Are you dizzy, are you breathing right?" the manager wiped some sweat off his face.

The silence that followed was deafening.

"Should we kick down the door?" Seungcheol asked desperately.

"We can't kick down the stadium's door, who's going to pay for it?" the manager answered urgently.

"What are we going to do hyung?" Seungcheol was borderline panicking.

"First of all, calm down, if you're going to be like that, you better return to the others."

"Are you joking? I'm not leaving my group mate alone!"

"I seriously don't want you to do anything stupid, there is probably nothing serious happening."

"Nothing seri- Are you kidding me? He locked himself into the damn bathroom, he may be dying right now for all we know!"

Mingyu kicked the door down.

The manager's startled voice barely registered in his brain. He saw Wonwoo leaning over the toilet, dry heaving. There was nothing to puke, his stomach had been empty even before the concert, despite literally everyone trying to feed him something. There were tears in his eyes and when he saw Mingyu, they momentarily flashed with relief, before fear overshadowed it.

"Mingyu, get ou-" he tried to say with a shaky voice, but Mingyu just kneeled down next to him and pulled him in a tight hug. And suddenly, there were even more tears.

The manager and Seungcheol were saying something, but honestly at this point, it was just background noise to Mingyu.

"Can you breathe?" he just asked Wonwoo who shook his head, struggling to get air inside his lungs.

Mingyu held him tighter, even though a part of him knew he should be giving him space, let him calm down. But Wonwoo clutched Mingyu's leather jacket, still on him after their performance, and wasn't letting go of him any time soon. His grip was so tight, that his knuckles appeared white. Mingyu wondered if his blood pressure was also dropping. He needed to talk to him, but first, he had to make him breathe again.

"Calm down, you're okay, I'm here, it's over." he said the most comforting words that came to his mind.

Wonwoo tried to take another breath, but his sobbing just wasn't letting him.

"Come on, in and out." Mingyu rubbed his back.

He made eye contact with the other two then. Seungcheol got the hint. He started dragging a heavily protesting manager away. Mingyu felt a little bad about the man. He had to deal with their messes so often.

"It's just the two of us now. Sitting in a dirty bathroom floor. Breathing deeply and feeling a sudden calm feeling spreading over us." he mumbled to Wonwoo's head, trying his best to make him feel better.

The scariest part was that he had no idea what was going on. Wonwoo didn't look like he was struggling at stage, until the last two songs. What could have happened to him in such a short time? Mingyu’s grip was getting tighter again, and he couldn't stop it.

But then, Wonwoo finally breathed. He placed his forehead on Mingyu shoulder and kept breathing.

"Did it work? Are you calmer now?" Mingyu asked.

"Just... hold me..." Wonwoo managed to choke out.

"Of course." Mingyu said softly.

He begun rocking them back and forth. Wonwoo liked those repetitive motions, he knew that since their rookie days. He fell asleep easier when Mingyu brushed his hair back, or when they counted their heartbeats together. His experience didn't fail him this time either. The sobbing gradually stopped, and Wonwoo went slack in his arms after a while.

"You're a little better now?" Mingyu murmured quietly.

"Yeah. Thank you." Wonwoo tried to hide his sniffle.

He started pulling away then, but Mingyu wasn't ready to let him go. It was just like Wonwoo to up and leave and pretend nothing happened. If that was considered strength, Mingyu definitely didn't have it.

"Wait." he said. "I need to make sure you're okay."

"I'm okay." Wonwoo replied immediately.

Mingyu run his hand down the other's back and soothingly. He felt fine. He wasn’t shaking anymore. He brought his palm to Wonwoo's cheek and lifted his head to look him into the eyes. Now, that was less fine.

"What was it, hm? Did something scare you? Was it a physical thing?" he asked, searching for an answer in his friend's deep eyes.

"It was nothing..." Wonwoo whispered, a little more uncertainly than before.

He tried to look away. Mingyu knew that this was making him uncomfortable again, but he needed to know. He needed to figure what he had to fight to make his Wonwoo smile again.

"Come on." Mingyu caressed his cheekbone with his thumb. "It's just me, you can tell me."

Wonwoo closed his eyes and sighed. It looked like he was thinking it over. If only Mingyu could make things easier for him, he would have done everything. Eventually, Wonwoo leaned in his touch and opened his eyes again.

"I got... a bit sick. Probably the lack of food." he begun.

The scolding about Wonwoo not taking care of himself properly was right on the tip of Mingyu's tongue. He was ready to blast a whole speech beginning with an "I told you so". He barely managed to hold it in. Still, he must have made some grimace, because Wonwoo gave him a knowing smile. The decision to not expand on that subject was mutual.

"I suddenly felt like I was going to fall in the middle of the dance. And then I felt like I forgot the choreography. And the worries just kept piling and piling and... here we are." he finished.

"Oh hyung, it would have been alright. Whatever you do, it's alright. Our fans understand." Mingyu pulled him to his chest again. Wonwoo hugged back with no complaint.

“I know… I just couldn’t…” he didn’t finish his sentence, he just closed his eyes again and shook his head. “It just got too much.”

“It’s okay, it happens. Remember how Jeonghan was so nervous the first time we performed that he got a fever that night?” Mingyu said.

“Yeah…” Wonwoo nodded.

“And you have nothing to worry about, you are always amazing on stage.” Mingyu added, his words genuine.

Even when Wonwoo was sick, he did great. Mingyu respected that so much. He sometimes felt he had to try extra hard to be as determined as Wonwoo.

Their conversation has stilled again. Was Wonwoo feeling bad again? Mingyu squeezed him a bit tighter, as it seemed to have done the trick before.

Indeed, a few moments later Wonwoo let out a deep sigh.

"You... helped so much." he quietly admitted. "It felt like I was falling apart, but you held me so tightly."

"Always." Mingyu bumped their foreheads together.

His heart picked up its rate, painfully reminding him of how much he felt about the other. If he was ever going to tell Wonwoo how much he cared, this was the right time. He looked as high on emotions as Mingyu for once, and he could use the comfort.

"Hyung, I..." he begun, but it was his turn to choke now as his mouth wouldn't move further.

Wonwoo's could. He leaned a tiny bit forward and pressed his lips against Mingyu's. The kiss was barely there, it was innocent. Mingyu took it for what it was; a sign of strong bonds, a comforting presence against his own. Wonwoo just wanted to show him that he was there, both physically and emotionally. He did it because he was vulnerable, because he was feeling a lot and it was strange for him and he didn't know how to express it. Even if Mingyu wanted to think that it meant anything else, he couldn't.

So he just smiled after they pulled apart. There was a hint of embarrassment on Wonwoo's face, but Mingyu quickly shook it off by pulling them both up from the floor. The moment was over, sealed with their kiss. Wonwoo looked heaps better. His eyes had gotten some of their spark back, even though he looked a little pale. Mingyu was definitely feeding him two servings of food tonight, but they were mostly back to normal. He felt light again.

And apparently, his wallet was soon following him to feel equally as light, because he was definitely going to pay for that door he broke.

_Note: contrary to popular belief, cats do care about their owners. They just don't consider them their owners._

~~

  1. _ Cats won't let you coddle them if they don't want to be coddled, no matter what._

Fansigns were somehow the best and worst times for Mingyu at the same time. He was always so excited to meet their fans. Their support was tremendous, and it was his primary reason for sticking through the hardships of the idol life with a smile on his face.

He was always happy to talk to the carats, to see some of them tearing up, giving them silly things to wear or asking them questions directly. It was cute how much they seemed to love everything he and his group mates did. His fans were definitely his favourite part of being an idol.

But this love for the fans sometimes gave them too much power over his group members lives. They could get a bit absurd with their requests, asking for too much aegyo or getting angry in the prospect of his friends dating someone else one day. Their manager just patted their back and told them to do it for the fanservice. After all, in the end of the day those were the people that paid for their food, and they had to do everything to keep them happy.

Mingyu was mostly okay with fanservice. He preferred it when he was being his genuine self, but he could also smile sexily at a random girl he didn't actually want like that to get the mood going. They were not all like that though. He could feel Jihoon dying a little inside every time someone asked him to do aegyo.

Understandably so too, because despite his height, Jihoon had the spirit and talent of a giant. He was their producer, one of the most important roles in the group, but when people asked him to do aegyo, he felt like he was being reduced to merely a cute face on a tiny body. Mingyu imagined that this wasn't the best for his self-confidence.

Still, Jihoon did it anyway. He powered through it like the stubborn man he was. He definitely preferred fans that were buying his music because they liked it and not _him_, but every fan's money was equally important to their group.

Wonwoo on the other hand, had to power through _everything_ they did for the fans. It wasn't that he didn't like them, he was just never fully excited to do stuff for them, even if they were genuine and not merely fanservice. Mingyu remembered reading an article about introverts once, and he had thought that there were quite a few points in it that Wonwoo could relate. Still, Wonwoo never let it show. He loved his fans, and if expressing it didn't come in a natural way for him, then he forced himself to get it across in a clear way.

But there was one thing he never managed to do.

Mingyu pondered this as carats came and went, their fansign being underway for about an hour now. Wonwoo was sitting next to him, the planners of the event had made sure of this. Mingyu couldn't count how many times he has wanted to reach over and simply talk to him, like every other member did around him, like he himself did with Jeonghan on his other side.

But no, Wonwoo hadn't even glanced at him ever since he sat down. He had seemingly erected a concrete wall between them that Mingyu couldn't break.

And the sad part was that Mingyu could understand the reason. He had lost count about how many fans' questions he had answered about Wonwoo, how many people had asked him to do a heart with him, how many cameras were turned on both of them to capture any kind of interaction they had, and then blow it out of proportions on social media.

Again, Mingyu was mostly okay with it. As the years passed, he had learned what sites it was best for him to stir clear of. Acting cute with Wonwoo so some fans could fantasize about them being together wasn't the most outrageous type of fanservice he had done. He liked being close to Wonwoo like this.

Apparently, Wonwoo didn't. For all the time they spent at home together and joined to the hip, Wonwoo went rigid cold about doing the same in public. Mingyu knew Wonwoo didn’t want to be close to him in public so the fans didn't get to think they were together, but he never understood _why_ though. Why would he care about what random people assumed about them if it didn’t hurt their popularity, but increased it instead? If it was just fanservice, then Wonwoo could power through it, like he did with everything else. If he didn't want it to be just fanservice, then he could just casually rest his head on Mingyu's shoulder when he was tired, like he always did at dance practice, easy and simple. Mingyu couldn't understand why he went out of his way to make their relationship look more distant that it actually was.

After the 11th request from a fan to do a heart with Wonwoo, Mingyu finally turned to him. He poked his ribs with a finger, making him twitch on his seat. When Wonwoo looked at him with a cold glare, Mingyu merely smiled.

"Heart?" he asked cutely and raised his hand over his head.

Wonwoo rolled his eyes and slapped the hand away. Mingyu could hear the camera clicks going off, but it didn't stop him. He lowered his hand and tried to get Wonwoo to make a finger heart with him instead. That didn't work either.

Wonwoo slammed Mingyu's half heart to the table, albeit careful not to hurt him. Mingyu gave him a pout and turned back to the fan with a shrug. He tried his best. Wonwoo was in an extremely angsty mood today.

The girl looked at him encouragingly and said her goodbyes as the line continued. Mingyu felt an ugly bitterness starting to rise from the bottom of his chest and he really didn't want it to show on photos. One last time. He wanted to try one more time, without any fan prompting him this time.

He reached over and let his hand rest on Wonwoo's thigh. He saw how Wonwoo pursed his lips tightly at the contact and forced himself to not look down. He didn't push Mingyu away, but he clearly didn't want the touch either, which felt worse because it made Mingyu feel like he was forcing himself onto him. With an internal sigh, Mingyu pulled away once and for all.

Jeonghan grabbed his hand then and drew a tiny heart on his wrist with his marker. Mingyu smiled playfully at him and drew a smiley face on the other's knuckles. Thank god for the small distractions. Jeonghan knew how to read the atmosphere and realized when Mingyu needed help to keep his happy-go-lucky look in front of the fans. So Mingyu just turned his whole attention to his hyung, even if his heart felt a bit heavier than normal.

~~

  1. _ Cats sometimes love to play around and make a mess out of your living room._

Mingyu felt abnormally sad as he walked to the living room.

There was no particular reason why. He had just been down for a few days now, and it finally took its toll on him. There were not a lot of his group members remaining in the living room. Most of them had gone out to enjoy their free evening. Only Soonyoung and Seokmin were remaining. They were trying the impossible, to drag Jihoon out of his room where he was writing lyrics and get him to the outside world. Without any kind of blackmail.

"Hyung, you will have fun! Soonyoung hyung and I will be with you the whole time!" Seokmin was saying.

Ah, so they were using reverse blackmail. Mingyu didn't know how that would benefit them.

"We can get some bread and feed the ducks at the river! We can make Seokmin sing to them!" Soonyoung added.

"Quack quack quaaaaaaack~" Seokmin's singing voice filled the room.

Not even that was enough to make Mingyu smile today. Usually, he would not only have laughed and joined the effort to make Jihoon socialize, but he would have accompanied them to the river as well. He just wasn't feeling it right now.

"Quack quack, quack quackity QUACK!" Soonyoung begun rapping in rhythm with Seokmin's high note quacking.

Jihoon only lasted two minutes. He slammed his room's door open, cheeks swollen from sleep and looking like an especially annoyed puffer fish.

"I can't write lyrics when all I can think about is your stupid duck noises!" he raged.

"Quack? Quack quack quack..." Soonyoung shook his head, pretending to be disappointed.

"Quack quack." Seokmin patted his back comfortingly and then turned to Jihoon. "Quack quack quack quack quack, quack?

"Just take me to the damn ducks before I replace all your lines in the next song with quacks." Jihoon rubbed the bridge of his nose and Soonyoung and Seokmin high fived.

Mingyu watched them getting ready to go and leave the dorm empty, save for Jeonghan who was sleeping upstairs and Wonwoo, who was locked in his room with his video games.

On a good day, if by some miracle Mingyu decided to stay home instead of going out with his friends, he would have been happy to join him and lose at every game they played. But this just wasn't a good day. He was probably going to spend it sulking in the living room with a bowl of ice cream.

At last, his loud friends pushed Jihoon out of their dorm and a silence spread. It was very rare for their dorms to be this quiet. Mingyu had thought it would be calming and peaceful, but it was anything but. It felt unnatural to be this quiet when he was used to being surrounded by people every second of the day. It was so unsettling, that Mingyu felt like he wouldn't be able to stay in that room for long if this silence didn't somehow break.

And just as he thought about it, Wonwoo's door opened and his friend's brown hair appeared from inside it.

"Is everyone gone?" he asked.

"Everyone from this floor." Mingyu nodded.

He didn't understand how he could feel such relief upon watching Wonwoo closing the door behind him and stepping closer towards Mingyu's couch. He ended up kneeling in front of Mingyu and looking up at him with sparkling eyes.

"Do you like, want to do something together?" he asked.

No matter how sad Mingyu felt, he'd never reject that.

"Like what?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know." Wonwoo said and pretended to think about it for a moment. "How about you cook ramyeon for lunch and I watch you?" he asked hopefully.

"No." Mingyu shook his head. "I'm too tired to cook."

"Please?" Wonwoo tried to convince him.

"No." Mingyu was adamant this time.

"Pretty please?" Wonwoo got up and sat next to him.

"No! I'm not in the mood, okay?" Mingyu sighed.

That made Wonwoo stop speaking. Mingyu kind of hated himself for it, because he really didn't want that silence. Why didn’t he just agree to cook for Wonwoo in the first place? Why did he have to make everything so hard? The other would definitely pick up that something was wrong now.

"Are you sad?" Wonwoo poked his cheek.

Mingyu didn't reply.

"Why are you sad?" Wonwoo changed his question as he poked his shoulder this time.

Mingyu looked at his lap and still didn't reply. He had no idea why he was sad. He didn't want to be like that. He wanted to look at Wonwoo and feel his heart swelling and cook ramyeon for him and smile, not mope around. Mingyu didn't get sad, he was a happy person. It felt wrong to not be, like it was something he wasn't supposed to do. The more he thought about it, the sadder he became.

Then Wonwoo did something absurd. He started tickling him. It took Mingyu by surprise and it made him squirm around violently, but Wonwoo didn't let him go so easily.

"Come on, let me see that smile." he said and Mingyu really had no choice to let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a whine.

"Stop, stop, hey!" he tried to push Wonwoo away, but his grip was weak.

"None of this. You don't get to be sad under my watch." Wonwoo smiled down at him and ah, there was that swell in Mingyu's heart.

It was true. He couldn't stay in a bad mood with Wonwoo like this, pinning one of his arms down on the couch and tickling his sides with the other. This was so stupidly Wonwoo, the way he chose the easiest and most illegal method to make him laugh again. And laugh he did, completely out of his control, and every choked breath he took was like a breeze of fresh air, blowing away all the black clouds that were his negative emotions.

"Suh- stop it!" he protested, because Wonwoo didn't relent even after the sky of Mingyu's heart was clear again.

"Smile for me Mingyu~" Wonwoo said and Mingyu tried his best to throw him a shaky smile. "Good job. Now suffer." Wonwoo added with a smirk and begun tickling him harder.

"That was not- aksjaksjs." Mingyu felt tears gathering at the corners of his eyes from laughter.

The traitor. How dare he not stop after all this. Mingyu had to take the matters in his own hands. There wasn't much he could defend himself with. He reached for a pillow at the edge of the couch, and before Wonwoo could realize what he was doing, Mingyu threw it straight to his face.

Wonwoo let out a surprised sound and grabbed the pillow, which gave Mingyu the chance to scramble away from him and get a safe distance between them.

"I hate you!" Mingyu declared, but now that his smile was back, it wasn't going anywhere. Not while he looked at Wonwoo at least.

"You love me." Wonwoo smirked again and threw the pillow right back at Mingyu.

Mingyu dodged it and hid behind the other couch. His hair and shirt were disheveled, his cheeks were red and he felt violated in every level. How did Wonwoo dare not only to clear his sky of the dark clouds, but put a sun there instead?

He gathered all the pillows from his couch and begun chucking them to Wonwoo's direction. He probably missed a few, but the sheer number of them was enough to draw a yelp out of the other's lips and have him scrambling to get shelter as well.

As he got off the other couch, Wonwoo kicked a lamp to the ground. Mingyu didn't have time to check if it broke though, because Wonwoo was gathering all the pillows he threw and blasting them back towards Mingyu.

"This is war, Kim!" he said.

"It has always been war, Jeon!" Mingyu replied dramatically and took cover.

Most of Wonwoo's pillows missed their mark. One hit the curtain rod above the window, causing it to shake dangerously. Another hit their tv and moved it sideways, thankfully not throwing it completely to the ground. But the worst one was definitely the one that landed on the table, where someone had left some dishes from the breakfast that were unfortunately dropped to the floor and broke with a loud crash.

"Your aim is terrible!" Mingyu yelled.

"Your face is terrible!" Wonwoo stuck his tongue out.

Wonwoo grabbed a packet of tissues and begun pulling them out to create small paper balls. Mingyu gathered the pillows that were on his side, and they began attacking simultaneously. A pillow hit Wonwoo square in the face for the second time that day, and Mingyu was certain he must have swallowed at least three of those tiny paper balls. The rest twenty of them ended up scattered all around the living room, like solid snowflakes. At the end of this round of attacks, Wonwoo chucked the entire empty tissue box at Mingyu. It would have hit his shoulder, but Mingyu ducked away in time and it ended up colliding with a painting behind him.

Mingyu wasn't in time to stop it from falling to the ground and its glass breaking.

He made eye contact with Wonwoo instead. The other's mouth was open in shock and regret. Mingyu chuckled. That was what he deserved.

"Don't laugh, Seungcheol is going to kill us!" Wonwoo scolded him. "We can throw out the dishes, but not the painting!"

"Oh no, you're completely mistaken. Seungcheol is only going to kill _you_." Mingyu kept chuckling unbothered.

"Not if you break something as well!" Wonwoo said and leaped at Mingyu.

Before he could fully grab him, he stepped on the remote control of the tv, making the lid break and the batteries to fly away. Mingyu laughed harder when Wonwoo stumbled, but the laugh choked in his throat as Wonwoo tackled him to the ground, right next to the curtains that were already unstable from before. Mingyu tried not to touch them at all as they wrestled each other. At one point, he managed to flip them around, and as Wonwoo lost his balance, he desperately grabbed the curtains to steady himself. That only managed to make the rod fall on them both.

"Oh my God!" Mingyu yelled and rolled away, rubbing his sore head.

"Serves you right..." Wonwoo mumbled, holding his knee that suffered the most from the impact.

"Me? You attacked first!" Mingyu protested.

"Yeah, but you're ugly." Wonwoo replied, like the true five-year-old he was.

Mingyu shook his head and got up. His heart was beating fast, excited. It only took a stupid fight with Wonwoo to get his blood rushing again. Mingyu couldn't believe how energized he felt compared to how he woke up.

He decided to be the bigger man and help Wonwoo to his feet. But when he started to walk towards him, his foot stepped on a particularly big paper ball and Mingyu felt the earth disappear from under his feet. He fell to the ground comically, with his feet in the air and his hands flopping around.

And then he heard it. An ugly crack sounded throughout the room and Mingyu's heart missed a beat when he realized that _that was his phone_. He had knocked it off the small table he had placed it onto.

He hurried to pick it up and assess the damage. The screen was destroyed, even below the protector. The useless thing was broken.

"How, how, _how_ did you break?! You've fallen off my pocket like a billion times, but _now_ you decide that you are a weak, fragile piece of outdated technology?" he repeatedly hit the screen with frustration.

"It's all about the angle of the fall, I imagine it wouldn't break if-"

"Oh my god hyung, I don't care!" Mingyu turned to the other.

One look at Wonwoo, that's all it took for his anger to dissipate. It left his body just as suddenly as it appeared. The sun in his heart shone brighter when he was looking at Wonwoo. There was no other emotion he could feel than...

_Than?_

Mingyu faltered a little. _Than what?_

He thought about what Wonwoo had done for him. He had lifted his mood in seconds, he had distracted him, he had made him feel okay with himself. He had let his body blow out all the steam it had gathered with that impromptu fight. Hell, Wonwoo had trashed their entire living room for him. And now he was looking at him so fondly from the floor, tangled in the curtains, as Mingyu gripped his broken phone tight. Wonwoo didn't simply put a sun in him. He _was_ the sun. No cloud of sadness had any chance against him.

Mingyu took a deep breath because his thoughts were running wild and he was beginning to get scared.

Wasn't this what being in love was supposed to be like? Every little thing he felt for Wonwoo, wasn't that how his mother had described he was going to feel for the woman he married one day? Mingyu had asked her when he was little about how she knew that his dad was the one for her. She had replied that tο her, his dad was the embodiment of warmth, that there was no cold when he was nearby. That was how she knew she was in love. And Mingyu, being a romantic person, believed her to this day.

Wonwoo... was exactly that, wasn't he? Why did it take so long for him to make the connection? Mingyu gulped and kneeled down next to him. He felt beyond scared, this wasn’t an easy realization to make. He removed the rod and helped Wonwoo sit up.

"I'm sorry about your phone." Wonwoo told him.

Mingyu snorted. Of all the things Wonwoo had to feel guilty about, he chose this. What was Mingyu scared of again? It couldn’t be his feelings for this mess of a human.

"That might have been the only thing you didn't break today." he said.

Wonwoo blinked once.

"Shit." he exclaimed in the end and he glanced around the room.

The dishes with leftover breakfast were still laying broken on the floor near the table, the food spread all around them. The couches were crooked, moved from the places they were supposed to be after they were used as fortresses. The tv was facing sideways, thankfully not broken, but close to it. The remote looked like it had been run over by a truck and its batteries were nowhere to be seen. The lamp was lifelessly laying on the ground. What used to be their curtains was a pile of cloth and wood and there were several pillows and paper balls scattered all around the floor.

The worst damage was the painting. Mingyu had no idea how much it would cost to replace that.

"Hyung. Let's get out of here. They won't have any proof we did it." Mingyu said in a moment of desperation.

"Oh? So you won't leave me to deal with it myself?" Wonwoo raised his eyebrows.

"Of course not." Mingyu pulled them both up.

"Let's go then." Wonwoo's eyes were glinting with mischief again.

There was a second that Mingyu just stared at Wonwoo's eyes and just let his feelings sink in. It was oddly peaceful to look at someone and to know that you loved them, platonically or otherwise. In the end, he just grabbed Wonwoo's hand and pulled him towards the door.

They really needed to get out of that room before anyone found out what they did.

Two days later, and Mingyu couldn't believe they had pulled it off successfully. Nobody figured out it was them who destroyed the living room. Their manager called a cleaning service without many questions and Wonwoo didn't have to pay for anything. Mingyu felt like they were kids again, sharing a huge secret that nobody was allowed to find out. Mingyu loved that.

But recently he had come to realize that he loved a lot of things about Wonwoo.

And every day that passed, he found more and more to love.

Wonwoo didn't have to pay for anything, but he did end up paying for something. Mingyu saw the small box on his bed one day. He hadn't gotten a chance to buy a new phone, but now he didn't have to anymore. For all the things Wonwoo had broken that day, he chose to replace the one he wasn't responsible for. At least now Mingyu knew he loved him, and the somersaults his heart did at the gesture were nothing to be concerned about.

There was a note attached to the package too.

"Let's never talk about this again~ love, hyung"

~~

  1. _ When cats want cuddles and pets, they demand your entire attention._

Mingyu yawned for the third time. Maybe he shouldn't have stayed for the movie night in the first place, even though Jisoo had asked so nicely. And well, Wonwoo had stayed as well. And as he had established with himself a while ago, Mingyu was weak and in love.

Now, Soonyoung, Chan, Seungkwan and Jisoo were all cuddled up on one end of the big couch while Mingyu was sitting on the other side of it. Wonwoo was in between. Not quite in the pile of limbs that were his friends, but not touching Mingyu either.

Twenty minutes of the movie have passed when his friend moved a fraction of a centimeter closer to him. Mingyu's eyes immediately caught it. He pretended not to notice though and just kept staring at the dumb action film Soonyoung had put on. Three minutes and thirteen seconds later, Wonwoo moved again.

He wanted to be subtle. He wasn't looking at Mingyu at all as he slid closer and closer to him. But now their arms were touching, and Mingyu kind of wanted to pull him even closer. It was unfair after all that only the others got to cuddle.

So Mingyu decided to be the most cliché person ever and lift his arms above his head, pretending to stretch. When he lowered them again, one was casually draped at the back of the couch, over Wonwoo's shoulders. And this time, Wonwoo turned to look at him.

"What?" Mingyu whispered.

"What did the man just say?" he nodded towards the tv.

Mingyu was caught. How did Wonwoo dare to expose him like that?

"Uhhh something in Italian?" he replied anyway.

"No, he definitely didn't say something in Italian during an Albanian mafia movie." Wonwoo said.

"Oh, so you had time to watch what is happening as you moved closer to me didn't you?" Mingyu couldn't help but jibe at him.

Wonwoo's ears started reddening and Mingyu fully enjoyed his victory. He chuckled and just pulled Wonwoo all the remaining way to his chest. No need to make their lives more difficult. It took Wonwoo a moment, but eventually he threw his arm over Mingyu's torso and tucked his head beneath his chin, like he had probably been meaning to do from the beginning. Mingyu softly run his fingers down his other arm, making the hair rise on it.

Wonwoo let out a small, satisfied sigh and Mingyu forgot what the movie was even about. He could only focus on the armful of Wonwoo that was suddenly on his lap. He kept caressing him because Wonwoo clearly enjoyed it, judging by how quickly he seemed to relax.

One hour into the movie, Wonwoo was practically melting against him. It was a great accomplishment to have him like this in a public space, with their group mates literally next to them. Bless them too for not making a comment about it.

Wonwoo's eyes were drooping lower and lower. He probably wasn't paying attention to the movie anymore either. His glasses were digging into the side of his face. It shouldn't have been very comfortable like this. Mingyu carefully removed them without hurting him further and placed them on the armrest next to him.

Wonwoo sighed again and nuzzled his face on the other's shirt, now that there were no glasses to stop him. Mingyu found the chance to run his fingers through his hair, pulling lightly at some strands. Wonwoo groaned at that, and he immediately covered his mouth with his hand out of embarrassment, some of his tension returning.

Not even Seungkwan made a peep though. This wasn't natural anymore. Had their friends talked about not reacting to whatever they saw? Did they even talk behind their backs? And why would they even do something like this in the first place?

Well, if that was the case, Mingyu was going to make the most out of it. He let his hands drop to Wonwoo's shoulder and massage gently, trying to get him all soft and compliant like he was before.

"You're not watching the movie anymore, hm?" he whispered to his forehead.

"Someone took my glasses off." Wonwoo hummed.

"It's too bad. Now you can only sit comfortably while I work my magic with you." Mingyu whispered.

Wonwoo opened his eyes to look at his own and gave him a tiny smile. Mingyu booped his nose before he started massaging his nape, making him let out another sharp sigh.

Mingyu liked cuddly Wonwoo so much, probably because he was getting rarer and rarer. His reactions were so natural, he had trouble holding them back like he instinctively did during most days. If someone saw him like this, he would have no idea why people called him cold.

"You're so warm." Mingyu whispered.

Mingyu had figured the effect of calling Wonwoo that a few years back. Because people usually only saw his cool persona, it sometimes made Wonwoo insecure about his personality. He was scared that he wasn't good for his friends and loved ones, that they thought he didn't care enough, that he didn't feel for them. Which was entirely untrue, and thankfully everyone in seventeen knew that.

But still, insecurities were insecurities, and one of Mingyu's favourite hobbies was squishing Wonwoo's ones to extinction.

Being called warm never failed to make Wonwoo even warmer. He wrapped his leg around Mingyu's hugging him in a more secure way. This way their bodies were getting as much contact as possible. He opened his eyes again, but didn't look at Mingyu this time. His eyes settled on a neutral spot on the wall, almost unfocused.

The film played on, and Wonwoo was starting to get lost in thought. Mingyu tapped his cheek to get his attention and throw him a questioning smile about what he was thinking. Wonwoo looked at his eyes, then away again.

"Mingyu, I-" he tried to say but stopped himself.

Ah, this was familiar. Mingyu knew what to do. He lifted Wonwoo's chin with his fingers and leaned down to press a kiss on his lips.

Wonwoo expected it. Mingyu felt him smile into the kiss and it was one of the most beautiful feelings ever. He wanted to keep kissing him but there was nothing platonic about that like he had been meaning it to be. It was much harder to pull away than the last time this happened.

"Ok, oh my god, I can't do this anymore!" Seungkwan paused the movie and Wonwoo immediately pulled back.

"Seungkwan." Jisoo calmly warned.

"If you want to kiss, get a room or something! There's only so much I can pretend I don't see!" Seungkwan pointed an accusing finger at Mingyu and Wonwoo.

"Imma back this one up. Kissing is the limit. We can't silently ignore any more than that." Soonyoung agreed. "Can we go back to the movie now?"

"Wait, it's not-" Wonwoo tried to explain.

But honestly, how do you even explain a platonic kiss? How do you explain that you feel so much for your friend that words won't do it justice and an innocent kiss is the only solution to properly convey your emotions? Mingyu couldn't explain it. Mainly because he didn't want it to be platonic, and that thought scared him the most.

But if Wonwoo needed it like this, then that was exactly what he was going to offer.

"If you say you haven't had the hots for Mingyu ever since you were like sixteen, then you're cancelled, blocked, reported and not invited to my wedding." Seungkwan sat back on the couch and crossed his legs. "Press play, Channie dear." he motioned towards the younger to continue their movie.

"First the fans and now you? Can y’all let him be comfortable for once?" Mingyu said, starting to feel a bit irritated.

He had lost a lot of precious time with Wonwoo trying to make him realize that whatever he felt was fine with him. He didn't need any more obstacles, especially in the form of their close friends.

"Mingyu, it's not like that. We don't assume that you're together or something, that was the whole point of not acknowledging what you do." Jisoo tried to explain.

"Seungkwan said it, not me. I just find it annoying that-" he begun saying but he felt a very familiar hand on top of his so he stopped.

"Next time I kiss Mingyu, it will be in private. Chan play the movie please." Wonwoo put an abrupt end to the blooming argument and Mingyu had to put actual effort in not letting his jaw drop.

Chan smiled at him and hastily did as told. The others too went back to their previous position, like this conversation never happened.

But there was no way Mingyu could pretend the same. He turned to look at Wonwoo, only to find him tucking himself to his side and pulling his arm over his shoulders again. He put on his glasses again too, so that meant he would be focusing back on the movie. Maybe that conversation would be put on hold then.

Wonwoo didn't look as cute as before, when he was wholly wrapped around him, but like Mingyu had established, he was weak and in love, and he would take anything Wonwoo was willing to give.

~~

_Remember friends, cats are very clever animals and will know if you love them and treat them right! Always have food and water in their bowls, let them run around your house freely and they will come to love you like any other animal!_

_Thanks for reading my article, I hope I helped you! xx_

Mingyu lowered his phone and glanced at Wonwoo. He was sitting at the very end of the couch with a book in his hand. Mingyu looked at him for a second longer, then back at the article, then back at Wonwoo.

He couldn't believe it. Minghao had made an amazing discovery. Mingyu was honestly shook. He opened his chat with Minghao and begun typing furiously.

**Me:** You are monster

**Me:** delete this

**Me:** why did you send that

**Me:** now I can't unsee

**Me:** how could you say something so controversial yet so brave

**Ni hao:** lmao

**Me:** no you heathen don't laugh you have to fix this

**Me:** why would you do this to me

**Ni hao:** whatevs, check this out too

**Ni hao sent a link**

[article][Some valuable information about puppies for first time dog owners]

**Ni hao:** that's you lol


	2. Puppy facts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't originally planning for a part 2, but when people ask I shall deliver lol. So here it is, puppy article in Wonwoo's pov. Enjoy!

Minghao waited for a reply to his messages to come, but it never did. He turned his phone off and on again impatiently, but still, there was no new notification.

Minghao was clearly being ignored.

Kim Mingyu was dead to him.

After all the trouble he had gone in to send him those articles. Was Mingyu broken or something? Minghao was aware that he was generally malfunctioning every time he sent him anything remotely cute that was about Wonwoo, but this was just too much. Nobody bluntly ignored Minghao's texts without repercussions.

"If you're going to be like that, you're giving me no choice..." he mumbled to himself, opening a chat with another person.

"Is someone in trouble?" Jeonghan asked from where he was laying on the floor next to him.

"Mingyu, hopefully." Minghao replied and started typing.

**Me:** hey wonwoo hyung

**Wonwoo hyung:** hi

**Wonwoo hyung:** sup

**Me:** check this out

**You sent a link**

[article][Some valuable information about puppies for first time dog owners]

**Wonwoo hyung:** are we getting a dog

**Me:** no

**Me:** isn't this just like mingyu tho? lol

"What happens to Mingyu depends on how Wonwoo reacts to what I just sent him." Minghao said casually, and Jeonghan patted his leg.

"I raised you well."

~

Wonwoo held his phone between the pages of his book. He didn't want to stop reading it. He planned to get right back to it after he read that article Minghao sent him out of the blue.

It wasn't like Minghao to randomly send him things. But it also wasn't like Wonwoo to ever ignore puppy facts, especially when it was implied that they might remind him of Mingyu. Wonwoo was a simple man. He liked dogs. And he liked Mingyu. He couldn't see how puppies reminded Minghao of Mingyu, but he was still giving this a try.

He tapped on the article and his eyes flickered over to Mingyu who was sitting at the other end of the couch. He was already looking at Wonwoo wearily. His eyes anxiously darted between Wonwoo's phone, where the chat with Minghao was still open, and Wonwoo's face. He looked alarmed for some reason.

Wonwoo smiled at him questioningly, but the other just blushed furiously. He averted his eyes and started violently typing a message on his own phone.

Weird.

The link finally loaded. It led to a blog of some random dude. The profile photo indicated that he spent too much time on the internet. But he obviously loved dogs, because every other of his pictures included a new one. Below all the pictures, there was the article Wonwoo was searching for.

_Hi. Did you just get a dog and you have absolutely no idea how to care for it? Then you should probably first click here **[link]** to read all about how to keep your new puppy alive. _

_Now that you've got the basics, hello again! This is an article about some random facts that made me love my dogs so much when I first got them, and they will probably help you look at them in a different way too. Without further ado (ado, lol, I love this word) here's the puppy facts y’all came here for._

~

  1. _ Tired puppies can get cranky and whiny. If you have a fussy puppy, try nap time._

Wonwoo should have known Mingyu wouldn't have been able to keep up with him after the third yawn in the span of three minutes. But he was a firm believer that no mercy should be given to the tired. One more well-aimed green shell, and Mingyu was completely out of the top three.

"Oh come on!" Mingyu whined loudly as Peach zoomed right past him. "Freaking Peach! Hyung you're killing me!"

Wonwoo just giggled. Late-night video game hours were his favourite. He knew he was sacrificing precious hours of sleep in a very tight schedule, but it wasn't just his body that needed the rest. He was at ease like that, pressed close to Mingyu and effortlessly, almost mechanically going through race after race while Mingyu suffered.

He passed the finish line at first place, like always, and had the time to watch Mingyu get more and more flustered as he tried to get back on course. But then, right as he almost passed Peach again, Wario threw a red shell at him and two more cars passed him.

"That fat ass, palette swapped, Mario wannabe!" Mingyu fumed. "I hate this!"

Despite his loud complaints, he still managed to finish fifth. He let out a frustrated sound and threw the controller over his head to the bed.

"Come on, don't fat shame Wario." Wonwoo playfully bumped their arms together.

"You're right, he would be an ugly and useless character even if he was normal sized. Why can't everyone be like Bowser, huh? He's one of the most decent guys in there. And he is plus sized too!" Mingyu ranted.

Bowser had come in last.

Wonwoo laughed heartily. Winning at Mario Cart made him happy, but not nearly as much as watching Mingyu get worked up over the stupid game.

"If I'm kicked out of the overall top three after this round, I swear I-" Mingyu begun saying as the final rankings started appearing.

Wonwoo was first, as expected. Up until now, Mingyu was barely holding onto the third place. But after this unfortunate round, he was kicked to the fourth, Peach taking his place.

"This game is cancelled! Don't buy me a present for my birthday this year, just throw that piece of trash to a volcano or something! It's what it deserves!" Mingyu shouted and got up.

By this point, Wonwoo was laughing so hard he had trouble standing up behind him. But he didn't want Mingyu to leave like this, they were having so much fan.

"Wait, wait, Gyu!" he called between laughs.

"What?" Mingyu answered curtly.

Wonwoo wiped the tears off the corners of his eyes and finally pushed himself off the floor. Mingyu was looking at him wearily as he wrapped his arms around his neck, but Wonwoo couldn't help himself.

Mingyu made everything better. From the big things, like the effortless coolness he offered to their performances as part of the hip hop unit, to the smaller ones, like when they ate together and he always made sure to slip one or two bites of his food to Wonwoo, everything had more meaning when Mingyu was with him. Even when they were playing with Wonwoo's video games, something that Mingyu was positively terrible at, even then he made everything more enjoyable. They had purposely kept the lights off to focus on the game better, but Mingyu still managed to brighten up the whole room with his presence. It didn't make sense.

So Wonwoo did the only thing that made sense and kissed his pouty lips. Mingyu never expected it when he did that. His reactions were always the same, pleasantly surprised and cute.

This time too, it was like a shock went through him, and he suddenly didn't know what to do with his body. His hands were fumbling around and his shoulders stiffened, his breath hitched.

That mess lasted for a few seconds, until he relaxed into the kiss. And then he wrapped his arms around Wonwoo's waist and he was finally kissing back, and that was infinitely better than everything else in Wonwoo's life. As expected of Mingyu. He always took everything and gave it back better.

Wonwoo pulled back a few moments later. There was a big grin on his face as he felt the other tightening his grip on his shirt, as if he didn't want to let him go yet. Mingyu blinked twice and then his mouth formed a small circle.

"Oh." he voiced quietly. "Okay." he added softly after some thought, accepting what had happened with a nod and pink cheeks.

Ah, he was too cute. Wonwoo almost wanted to kiss him again. That was his cue to pull back completely. There was no need to complicate things further. Mingyu let out a puff of air from his cheeks when there was distance between them again.

"It's good to know that at least one of us had fun tonight." he said with another pout.

"Come on, you had fun too and you know it." Wonwoo brushed the top his hand.

"I'm terrible and I'll never get better and I have no idea why you want to keep playing with me." Mingyu frowned.

Wonwoo's eyebrows lifted in surprise. Those couldn't be Mingyu's true thoughts. He wouldn't come back every time to play with him if he didn't like it. What was suddenly wrong with him?

"I never want to play again. I'll just go back to my room and sulk in a corner until Jihoon hyung kicks me out. This is my fate." Mingyu wrapped his arms around his body pitifully.

And then he yawned loudly. Wonwoo's smile returned and his concern disappeared as easily as it appeared. Of course Mingyu didn't mean those words. There were dark circles under his eyes and his shoulders were slouching when he stood up. He wasn't used to staying up late in front of a screen, like Wonwoo was. Mingyu didn't have that zombie energy that sometimes kept Wonwoo up all night playing games. And now that it was late, he was tired.

Mingyu needed to rest, probably more than Wonwoo did, to keep up the happy and uplifting vibe in front of the cameras. Well then, playtime was over. It was time for Wonwoo to be a responsible hyung.

"Goodnight then, even if it is not good at all and everything is terrible. But I won't bother you with my presence anymo- what are you doing?" Mingyu stopped mid-rant when Wonwoo grabbed both his hands and pulled him towards the bed.

"We have all the room to ourselves tonight. Seungcheol hyung is sleeping with Jihoon. Don't you want to play roommates again, like old times?" Wonwoo said.

"That... doesn't sound that terrible." Mingyu said, but his face was still pouty.

"Come here then." Wonwoo pulled him until he was laying on the bed.

Mingyu wiggled under the covers with a weird expression on his face. It resembled that of a child who was in the process of whining, but suddenly it was given what it wanted and there was no more reason to whine, so it just stood there, confused.

Wonwoo supposed he should get up and go to the other bed then. Even back then, when they stayed in the same room, they didn't always sleep on the same bed. Only some nights. Nevermind those were the nights Wonwoo slept the best.

But Mingyu was already wrapping his arms around him and pulling the blanket above both their bodies. The demand was clear. Wonwoo wasn't going anywhere tonight. He lowered himself on the single pillow of the bed. Mingyu was using Wonwoo’s shoulder as a pillow anyway, so no need to share.

There was still a slight frown on Mingyu's face, even after they were curled together after all this time, in a single bed with only the faint light of bedside lamp to softy illuminate them. One of Mingyu's cheeks was squished against Wonwoo's shoulder, and coupled with his furrowed brow he looked damn adorable.

Wonwoo leaned down and kissed him again, before he could think too much about it.

Mingyu didn't need a few seconds to get into it this time. The moment their lips touched, he groaned with appreciation and relaxed, letting Wonwoo do whatever he wanted.

It was too much, Wonwoo knew it. He felt scared as he planted kiss after kiss at Mingyu's soft, compliant lips. It was just small pecks, nothing that should alert him of danger. They kissed like this often. After years of friendship, it was much easier than talking. It was supposed to be platonic. Mingyu probably wasn't even thinking too much about it. His eyes were closed, and he looked beyond relaxed, almost on the verge of sleep. It felt nice kissing him, and Wonwoo needed to stop feeling scared already.

"I love you." Mingyu mumbled sleepily then.

Wonwoo's lips paused right above Mingyu's. He felt the inhale Mingyu took to speak, the air that moved around his face. He felt Mingyu's lips move, he tasted his words. He closed his eyes as the warm puff of air hit his own lips. He felt a shiver running down his spine at the sensation. He couldn't use the excuse that he hadn't heard what Mingyu had said, because the other had made sure to make him feel it all the way to his bones as well.

And the scariest thing was, Wonwoo couldn't fool himself anymore into ignoring what it meant. Mingyu wasn't like him, he was brave with his emotions. This wasn't a platonic 'I love you'.

Mingyu spoke it so simply, like it was the most natural thing in the world. It wasn't anywhere near a proper confession, there was no awkward anticipation or sweat forming in his palms from the nerves. Mingyu spoke like he was letting Wonwoo know a fact, something that was simply a part of him. And Wonwoo felt terrified.

He pulled back, trying not to be obvious, and threw an arm over Mingyu's chest to keep him warm. If he was lucky, Mingyu would already be asleep. If he was extremely lucky, he wouldn't even remember it in the morning. Wonwoo steeled himself for a sleepless night, but there was one thing he failed to notice before he got lost in his own thoughts.

He had felt Mingyu inhaling, he had felt him speaking, but he never felt him exhale. If he had noticed that, then he would have realized how anxious Mingyu truly was for an answer after he realized what had slipped out of his mouth, an answer that Wonwoo wasn't able to give.

~

  1. _ Dogs are pack animals. They don't enjoy being alone._

"You're going out?" Junhui asked, taken aback when Wonwoo came to ask if he could borrow one of his jackets.

"I should. You're always pestering me to socialize more." Wonwoo replied.

"I'm positively surprised!" Junhui quickly picked a jacket from his wardrobe, with barely just one glance. "I've been preparing for this moment, I've picked out a jacket for you like two weeks ago and you can also borrow that new beanie I bought but don't want to wear because you know, my hair."

Junhui spoke fast. He had a lot to say, usually in a short amount of time, so he had learned to make the utmost of it. Wonwoo was fine with letting him speak now, as they got ready together to go the mall. Minghao knocked Junhui's door ten minutes later, dressed fancier than both of them combined. Wonwoo hoped he didn't end up regretting going shopping with the younger. If it was anything like going shopping with Mingyu, then it would be a nightmare. Especially because Minghao wasn't Mingyu, and not matter how much Wonwoo liked him, he'd never be as fond of him to lessen the torture.

"Look at you, re-inventing fashion all by yourself." Junhui cooed at Minghao.

"Someone needs to know how to dress in here." Minghao pointedly looked at the other up and down.

Junhui, instead of getting offended, threw an arm over Minghao's shoulder with an amused laugh.

"Come on then! Wonwoo and I need your guidance, oh great fashion guru." Junhui said dramatically and stirred both of them towards the door, gesturing at Wonwoo to follow.

"Oh, you're coming too hyung?" Minghao sounded as pleasantly surprised as Junhui had.

Seriously, why was everyone so unused to him going out? It wasn't like he was a lonely person, he went out anytime he needed something without complaint.

"If you'll have me." Wonwoo replied, walking to the upper dorm's living room next to the other two.

"Of course! Is Mingyu also-" Minghao tried to say but Junhui playfully slapped his mouth shut.

"Nuh uh, it's just the three of us today." he hissed at the younger's questioning face before he turned back to Wonwoo with his usual playfulness. "We're getting you a new travel t shirt okay? That Odd Future one is getting kind of old."

Whatever thought was on Wonwoo's mind completely disappeared after that statement.

"Never! I'm wearing that shirt to the grave!" he defended himself.

"Let me guess, you're wearing it along with a bucket hat?" Minghao snickered, quickly dropping the previous subject.

"Wow I'm feeling attacked right now." Wonwoo pretended to be offended.

"Don't, I like the bucket hats." Minghao shrugged.

Before Wonwoo knew it, they were wrapped in a conversation about clothes. As expected of Junhui. He knew how to read the atmosphere and divert the subject from something Wonwoo might not be entirely comfortable with. Wonwoo didn't know how he always did it, but he admired his friend for it, no matter how aloof he appeared sometimes.

The truth was that Wonwoo really needed some fresh air, without Mingyu distracting him for once. He needed to set things straight with himself, pun intended. He needed to quell that growing affection before it got too out of hand.

Wonwoo had been doing this for years, it wouldn't be any different now. He just needed a little time away from Mingyu and all the joy and rainbows he was bringing into Wonwoo's life.

_I should stop making gay jokes, this isn't funny,_ Wonwoo thought to himself.

Alas, fate wasn't kind with him. As they begun descending the stairs, they saw Mingyu coming out of the lower dorm's living room. He was still in pajamas and Wonwoo was surprised that he wasn't out with the others already. It wasn't like Mingyu to stay home at a day off.

"Hey." Mingyu called to them.

"Morning." Minghao replied for everyone as they all came to a stop.

"I was actually coming to look for you. You wanna help me cook ramyeon?" Mingyu asked Minghao.

Wonwoo felt his stomach grumbling merely at the words. The power Mingyu had over his appetite was unacceptable. Why did he have to make such great ramyeon? Now Wonwoo was really tempted to stay home.

"We're actually going shopping now." Minghao pointed at Junhui and Wonwoo. "When I come back, you're on." he said, patting Mingyu's shoulder.

"Oh come on, you'll be gone for hours and you know it." Mingyu chuckled.

"Not with Wonwoo hyung, I won't. I'm giving him one hour tops before he asks to come back." Minghao said.

"I'm right here!" Wonwoo elbowed Minghao as Junhui laughed.

Mingyu smiled at him as well and Wonwoo averted his eyes. He didn't need any more reasons to stay home. Junhui, probably sensing the discomfort, gently grabbed his arm and urged both him and Minghao forward.

"I'll just cook on my own then." Mingyu sighed. "I can't believe I'm the only one staying home. It's going to be too quiet." he said.

"We'll be right back." Minghao said and waved at him. "Bye!"

"Bye." Mingyu smiled at him, but he looked dejected.

Mingyu pouted when he didn't like how the events turned out. It was his natural reaction. Wonwoo really shouldn't be thinking about kissing that pout away every time it appeared.

Two hours.

Wonwoo lasted two hours shopping with Junhui and Minghao. He didn't know if he should be glad that he exceeded Minghao's expectations or annoyed by the fact that they were so low in the first place. He was finally home though, and he was too mentally tired for any unwanted thoughts to bother him. He had achieved his goal.

Minghao and Junhui were talking about many things at once, and Wonwoo had trouble keeping up sometimes, despite the effort they both made to include him. When they entered their building, they escorted him to the lower dorm to help him put the things he bought away.

Wonwoo hadn't even put his key all the way to the lock when the door flew open and he was suddenly pulled into a tight hug.

"You're back!" he heard a happy voice saying above his head, and then he felt more people being pulled into the hug.

"Oof, Mingyu-" Minghao was the only one to protest.

"Group hug!" Junhui yelled and put his own arms around everyone, squeezing them tighter.

Minghao groaned louder. Wonwoo was a bit surprised at himself that he wasn't complaining as well. He was being squished from three different directions, yet he didn't have the heart to pull away. He was the first one to be pulled in, so he was flush against Mingyu's chest, and all he did was quietly wrap his arms around Mingyu's waist.

"Guys I can't breathe!" Minghao begun elbowing his way out at some point, and they all took it as a cue to split up.

"That was fun." Junhui said. "Are you okay?" he asked Mingyu.

"Now that you're here." Mingyu said and casually threw an arm over Wonwoo's shoulders. "What did you buy hyung?" he asked, right in front of Wonwoo's face.

_So much for getting a break from Mingyu_, Wonwoo thought as he fumbled with his shopping bag. Mingyu got so clingy when he was left alone, he should have known this would happen.

"Let him breathe, Gyu." Junhui wiggled between them and wrapped his arms around Mingyu. "What have you been up to before we returned?" he asked.

"...I was waiting for you to return..." Mingyu mumbled, suddenly looking too small next to Junhui.

_And so much for letting the fondness fade away,_ Wonwoo thought bitterly.

"Do you want to help me put the clothes away?" he asked Mingyu, and the boy suddenly perked up.

"Yes!" he said excited.

Wonwoo didn't deserve such enthusiasm when he was barely being a decent friend. Mingyu grabbed his hand and pulled him towards Wonwoo's room.

"Hurry up so we can cook ramyeon afterwards. I'm starving." Minghao called.

"Of course!" Mingyu nodded furiously. "Thank God it's not quiet in here anymore." he mumbled quietly and Wonwoo barely caught it.

When the door closed behind them, Mingyu leaned against it and looked at Wonwoo with curious eyes.

"What's wrong hyung?" he asked, catching Wonwoo off guard.

"What? Nothing's wrong, come see what I bought." Wonwoo waved him over.

Mingyu walked closer to him, probably closer than what was necessary and placed a hand behind his neck. Wonwoo immediately looked away. What was Mingyu doing all of a sudden? That was no way a friend should act, was it? Wonwoo willed his cheeks to obey him for once and not blush at the proximity. Mingyu has been this close to him before, it shouldn't be any different now. There had always been a reason though. Now the context didn't allow him to be this close while still remaining platonic. Why wasn't he pulling away? How long has he been holding him?

"See? You got so nervous." Mingyu said, slowly withdrawing his hand. "And you avoided me in the morning. Why?" he sounded a little sad.

"It's just..." Wonwoo tried to reply. "I need a little space? A little break."

"From me?" Mingyu raised his eyebrows.

"No, not you. Just..." Wonwoo looked around the room, trying to find the right words. "It's sometimes hard to breathe around you."

"What? As in, you hate the air around me?" Mingyu sounded alarmed.

"No idiot. As in, you take my stupid breath away." he murmured, eyes locked to the floor.

"Oh." Mingyu was taken aback. He stayed still for a moment before he leaned forward. "Oh?" he asked.

Wonwoo was failing miserably at this. He was confusing even himself with his words, how could he ever expect Mingyu to understand?

"I mean, that I need some time to catch my breath again." he explained slowly, hoping Mingyu would get it.

Mingyu looked at him for a second longer and Wonwoo could practically see the gears turning in his head. It felt like centuries before he completely pulled back, patting Wonwoo's shoulder.

"Let's see those clothes then, yeah?" he said, and Wonwoo exhaled.

Mingyu got it. By some miracle, he understood. Wonwoo didn't know if that was a good sign, or it just made everything worse. Because even when he wasn't even making sense to himself, Mingyu understood and respected him. He never put pressure on him, he was just there supporting his every decision. How could Wonwoo ever stop being fond of that? He was in too deep this time.

"Don't look so constipated hyung." Mingyu flicked his forehead with a chuckle.

"Hey!" Wonwoo rubbed the sore spot. "Respect your hyung!"

"Show me your new clothes then! They actually have a chance of being nice and fashionable for once, since Minghao was with you." Mingyu said, slowly regaining his previous energy.

"Why is everyone attacking my sense of fashion today? I expected better than that." Wonwoo huffed.

"Aw, I'm sorry, don't worry hyung, you always look great." Mingyu shrugged, that damn smile not leaving his face.

Wonwoo averted his eyes again. He clutched the shopping bag to his chest and walked to his closet. He kept himself occupied by starting to put his clothes to the appropriate places. Like this, he could probably ignore what reactions Mingyu managed to get out him.

That's what he thought until Mingyu came to stand next to him and started helping him fill his closet. He was mostly quiet, just skillfully folding clothes, but even that affected Wonwoo. It was too domestic.

"Hyung." Mingyu said after a few moments of silence, and Wonwoo turned to look at the side of his face. "Breathing is overrated." Mingyu said softly.

Wonwoo's mouth fell half open but he hurried to close it before Mingyu could see his expression. He quickly turned back at his closet only to find that there were no more clothes to fold. He closed the door and walked out of his room, leaving Mingyu behind.

This day had been futile after all. Wonwoo was nowhere near getting Mingyu out of his head. He spent the rest of the afternoon watching him, Minghao and Junhui happily messing around in the kitchen while Wonwoo sat on the kitchen table, feeling confused and miserable.

_Note: Dogs are always happy to watch their humans return home. The less time they spend alone, the better._

~

  1. _ Dogs can get jealous when their human displays affection towards someone or something else._

Wonwoo grabbed Soonyoung's hand as they walked around the stage together, waving at carats and their smiling at their phones. Wonwoo tried to keep posing on his good side, throwing cool smiles and winks, but Soonyoung jumped around and smiled widely, not even bothering to maintain an image. He was always was too happy to see the fans, he threw heart after heart at them and made cute faces.

They made quite the pair.

Fanservice with Soonyoung was easy. They had this whole "opposites attract" vibe to work with. Plus, Wonwoo always communicated well with Soonyoung, and they both knew exactly what to do in front of the fans. It was easy and simple, and Wonwoo had wished numerous times that more fans would appreciate his friendship with Soonyoung over anyone else.

Soonyoung threw an arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer towards some phone cameras, and Wonwoo let his smile become more natural, more amused. The fans needed to think that Soonyoung and the weird poses he was making Wonwoo do, had that kind of effect on his smile.

Wonwoo pulled Soonyoung up then to continue walking. He was supposed to be the serious, responsible one in this relationship, so he should be the one to urge his friend to leave. He kept his hand linked with Soonyoung's as they returned to the center of the stage, where the rest of the members were beginning to gather again.

What Wonwoo and Soonyoung did wasn't acting per se, it was more like an exaggeration of their actual friendship. Soonyoung was generally more energetic than Wonwoo in real life, yes, but there were moments when Wonwoo could easily down a family pack of ice cream and then run around on sugar high. There were instances when Soonyoung had been a lot more organized than Wonwoo, especially when he was teaching them all that complicated choreography.

Fans didn't know that though. Fans were more attracted to the one-sided, shallow persona their idols showed to the public, so that was exactly what they were going to deliver.

It felt simple to do that with Soonyoung, but when all the members returned to the center of the stage, Mingyu caught his eyes and it stopped being simple. Mingyu was smiling, but it wasn't reaching his eyes. He kept glancing towards Wonwoo and Soonyoung's linked hands. Wonwoo tried to communicate with his eyes that he should stop, that the fans would definitely pick that up if he continued.

And fanservice with Soonyoung was easy, but with Mingyu it was anything but. Mainly because at some point the lines between fanservice and their actual relationship had blurred dangerously, and Wonwoo didn't want the public involved in something that felt so personal.

When it was time for their last bow and farewell to the fans, Mingyu slipped to the space between Soonyoung and him. What was he doing? Wonwoo tried to keep his annoyance at bay as they held hands and bowed. Mingyu held his hand even as they were pulled below the stage, even if he had let go of Seungkwan on his other side.

How many cameras had caught that? The moment they were free to move again, Wonwoo furiously pulled away from the other and didn't answer as Mingyu called his name. What was wrong with him? Wonwoo had told him that he didn't want to give any room to the fans to want them together anymore. Wonwoo needed a bit of time to let his nerves calm down and then talk to Mingyu again.

"Hyung, wait." Mingyu was following him.

"Not now Mingyu, we'll talk at home." Wonwoo hissed at him.

"No, we talk now! Why do you not want to talk to me?" Mingyu said.

He was angry too and that only pissed Wonwoo off more. What reason did he have to feel like that? He was the one who never minded the shipping.

"I'm saying this one last time, let's not argue in public. You don't want that." Wonwoo attempted to keep his cool one last time.

"What's wrong with you and public? You can hold hands and be cute with Soonyoung hyung in front of the cameras, but god forbid you talk to me backstage!" Mingyu said.

"Yeah, and there is a reason for that if only you wanted to listen!" Wonwoo replied.

"I don't understand hyung! Why is it specifically me that can't talk with you? Do you see Seungkwan and Hansol being cold to each other on stage? Who cares about the fans' fantasies?" Mingyu's voice begun raising.

"Don't give me that Mingyu, you know how far our fans were going. I'm just trying to protect-"

"Protect what? Your reputation? Because you're fine doing fanservice with anyone but me!" Mingyu protested.

"I'm trying to protect our friendship!" Wonwoo yelled.

"What friendship?" Mingyu yelled back.

There was a moment of silence to let the true meaning of Mingyu's words sink in. They were inside the dressing room now, some of the other member slowly walking in around them. It was deathly silent, until Wonwoo spoke up again.

"It's not my fault if you don't understand. Just stay away from me when there are cameras around." he said coldly.

"Yeah, you'd rather have Soonyoung hyung for that. Or Junhui hyung. Or practically anyone who isn't me." Mingyu said bitterly.

"Are you fucking jealous?"

"Fuck you! I'm trying to tell you that I'm not okay with what you're doing but you're just ignoring me!" Mingyu snapped again.

"You're the one ignoring what I've been trying to say!"

"Oh yeah? What was your answer then?" Mingyu's voice begun shaking dangerously.

"What?" Wonwoo asked confused.

"That night." Mingyu said. "You never answered. I said... You know what I said, you heard me! But still you didn't bother to answer. You never do. You just always ignore me and hope everything will be okay, but it won't okay? It won't anymore." Mingyu said with a finality that made Wonwoo feel terrified once again.

He felt the exact same fear he had felt when Mingyu told him he loved him.

"Guys..." Seungcheol tried to intervene then. "Maybe this conversation should wait..."

Wonwoo wanted to reply. He wanted to say something, anything to defend himself. It wasn't supposed to be like that. Mingyu always made everything better, why was he doing this now? Especially in front of their group members and the staff and a whole crowd right above their heads. He must have been desperate to just blow up right after their performance. Had it been so hard on him all this time?

Wonwoo should talk to him, really talk and acknowledge what he was going through, what _they_ were going through. But for the life of him, he couldn't. He just stood there, being paralyzed by fear.

He was terrified of finally confronting what he has been running from all this time. But now, Mingyu was at his limit, and if Wonwoo didn't find the courage to accept what has been obvious ever since they were trainees, he was going to lose Mingyu forever. And that too was terrifying.

"Don't worry hyung, he won't say anything after that. He never does." Mingyu told Seungcheol, sounding disappointed. Disappointed because of Wonwoo.

Wonwoo could practically see Mingyu walking away from him. They were both standing still, everyone in the room was standing still. But Wonwoo was feeling like Mingyu was getting further and further away, and with him he was taking a piece of Wonwoo's heart.

_What would it feel like to stop breathing?_

Wonwoo held his breath. He couldn't form words right now, there was no way that was changing. But Mingyu's eyes were still on him. And it was all Wonwoo could do to stop breathing for him.

Wonwoo counted the seconds he held his breath. He wouldn't let it go until Mingyu noticed what he was doing. If he fainted, so be it. Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen...

"My god hyung!" Mingyu suddenly exclaimed with realization.

Ah, it made sense that he stopped at seventeen.

Mingyu quickly bridged the distance between them and dragged Wonwoo out of the room, ignoring the voices of Seungcheol, Jihoon and their manager. This was still the most uncomfortable place to be doing this, with all the fans still emptying the stadium. There was danger that they might be seen.

But Wonwoo wasn't breathing anymore and he didn't care when Mingyu slammed him against a wall of an empty looking corridor and kissed him hard.

It was paralyzing in a completely different way than the fear had made Wonwoo. It was also nothing like the borderline platonic kisses they had shared in the past. This was real and it was overflowing with years of repressed desire. Mingyu gripped tightly at his shirt and it felt like he was attacking Wonwoo's lips with his mouth instead of just kissing them. Wonwoo too threaded his fingers on Mingyu's hair and pulled him closer and closer, until there really was no space to breathe.

"Just take it... Take it all..." Wonwoo mumbled incoherently when Mingyu moved an inch back.

"Take what?" Mingyu's voice was husky. "Say it."

"Take my fucking breath away."

~

  1. Stroking dogs and gazing into their eyes releases the "feel good" hormone oxytocin for both people and dogs.

"I love you."

"Say it again."

"I love you."

"Again."

"I love you."

"Again."

"I love you. How many more times do you want me to say it?"

"As many as it takes to sink in."

"Well... I love you." Wonwoo shrugged, like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Mingyu was looking at him with wide eyes, and Wonwoo was worried he was going to faint any moment now. How could every reaction of this boy be so precious?

He should have told him sooner. He should have manned up and accepted his feelings long ago.

Because Mingyu might have been an oblivious idiot, but Wonwoo wasn't. He had always been aware of how he felt towards the other. He had understood what was happening to him when he first met Mingyu, he had been familiar with the concept of crushes. Becoming friends had been the easiest thing in the world, despite the age difference. It was like walking into the shallow part of a lake in the middle of a desert. It was refreshing and vital, because Wonwoo would have never made it to debut without Mingyu by his side, everyone knew that.

It had been just as easy to slip into deeper waters. Oh, Wonwoo could _feel_ it when he started drowning. Mingyu wasn't aware of it, it was obvious, yet he most probably was feeling the same things. How Wonwoo envied him sometimes.

He envied how Mingyu could obliviously float on their lake, how he just kept taking everything positive from this relationship without his fear threatening to drown him every time it got too much.

No, Wonwoo wasn't as lucky. It was because he knew exactly what was happening that he desperately tried to swim to the surface and keep breathing.

Wonwoo had thought that acknowledging he was in love with Mingyu would feel like drowning, that's why he had avoided it for so long. But when it came to the point that he was either going to drown or Mingyu would swim away, Wonwoo took one last breath and let the water take him.

He sank deeper and deeper as Mingyu kissed him against that wall at that stadium, he sank so deep that there was no coming back up this time.

But when Mingyu pulled back, Wonwoo found that he was still breathing. He wasn't struggling to swim up anymore. Mingyu had pulled him to the surface, he was holding him tightly and he wouldn't let him sink again. And Wonwoo knew then that finally, _finally_, it was over.

"I don't understand. You were so uncomfortable about this a few days ago, how can you simply say it like that now?" Mingyu asked, adorably tilting his head to the side.

Wonwoo smiled at him. How could he even begin to explain? Mingyu never felt the same kind of fear he had. Mingyu never had to drown.

Wonwoo cupped his cheeks with his palms and placed a small kiss on his lips. Mingyu didn't expect it this time either, like he never did, and Wonwoo hoped that this was going to change in the future.

He pulled back after he made sure that every part of Mingyu was trained on him. He looked deep in his eyes, hands still cupping his cheeks.

"I love you." he said steadily. No fear, no hesitation. He was finally free from those.

What a terrible feeling fear is. It only exists to stop people from evolving, from seeking out new parts of themselves and their surroundings. Wonwoo had feared that loving Mingyu freely would result to drowning, but this hadn't been the case at all.

Acknowledging that he was in love with Mingyu was actually like flying. There was no reason to stay in that small lake anymore when the whole world was theirs. Wonwoo left his fears that were weighing him down all this time behind and took off with Mingyu, ready to explore their future together.

"You're unbelievable." Mingyu said when he could talk again.

He said it in exasperation, but Wonwoo knew better. Mingyu had been ready to fly for a while now, ever since that night they were playing Mario Kart.

"You love me too." Wonwoo said cheekily.

"I mean... Yeah? Of course? I said it first." Mingyu looked proud about it.

Wonwoo had to explain everything to him. He needed to let him know exactly for how long he had known about it, he had to share all his thoughts about lakes, and drowning and flying. It would be extremely hard and embarrassing, words were never his forte, and it might take years before he managed to do it, but he had to speak to him about it because he couldn't let Mingyu believe that he was the one who figured it out first.

Wonwoo's pride wouldn't allow that. He was petty like that.

Wonwoo run his hand through Mingyu's hair as he kept looking at his eyes. It felt good. It felt the best. Mingyu really always made everything better.

"You're so sweet today. I fear it's a trap." Mingyu mumbled, but his tone was playful.

"It _is_ a trap. You're mine now." Wonwoo wrapped his hands around Mingyu's neck and climbed on his lap.

"Oh no. How terrible." Mingyu said, pretending to hate the attention. "How will I ever get away?" he held Wonwoo's waist securely.

"You won't. You're stuck with plain old me. Are you okay with that?" Wonwoo asked, placing his chin on Mingyu's shoulder.

"Do you mean if it feels like both my birthday and Christmas came at the same time this year? Because those words were the best present I've ever received." Mingyu said.

"Now you're being cheesy." Wonwoo slightly pulled the other's hair.

"Hell yeah I am. It's what you deserve." Mingyu held him tighter.

Wonwoo leaned his head to the side to look at Mingyu's eyes again. He looked good like this, he looked happy. He looked like he always did in front of the fans, only this time it felt like it was real, solid. Wonwoo let his fingers run through the hair at the nape of Mingyu's neck and he felt him arching into the touch. Yeah, this was how it should always be.

They stopped talking and it felt peaceful. Everything was the same as before, only fuller, more real now that they were both honest about how they felt.

They were interrupted by the slam of the door of the small store room they had hid. Jihoon strutted in, somehow full of energy, even after three hours of dance practice.

"Break's over dimwits, back to pract-" his words were caught in his throat when he saw them.

Mingyu hurriedly put Wonwoo down and smiled sheepishly at Jihoon. His cheeks flushed red, embarrassed and cute. Wonwoo wanted to kiss them. He didn't even care that Jihoon was in the room and it was surprisingly liberating.

"Aight, I'll pretend I never saw anything, you have five minutes." Jihoon started walking backwards before they could explain anything.

Wonwoo leaned down and kissed Mingyu's cheek. He couldn't help himself. The other obviously did not expecting anything like that in front of Jihoon.

"Hyung!" he hissed at Wonwoo.

Wonwoo shrugged. Mingyu groaned as Jihoon halted at his steps, but he didn't look half sad about what Wonwoo had done.

"I shouldn't be asking this, I know I'll regret it but... Are you two together?" Jihoon asked, softer than it would have been expected of him.

"Hyung, have we ever not been together?" Mingyu smoothly replied, and it was Wonwoo's turn to blush as Mingyu pulled him closer from his thigh.

"Right." Jihoon cleared his throat. "Just to be safe though, do I knock before entering a room from now on?" he looked at them with narrowed eyes.

"That would be wise, yes." Mingyu said, choking a bit on his words.

"Lovely." Jihoon nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"What do you intend to do with me behind closed doors, hm?" Wonwoo said suggestively and sat on Mingyu's lap again.

"Come on hyung, we have dance practice." Mingyu pushed him off, albeit with a flustered face.

"Right. Sweatpants aren't good for hiding anything." Wonwoo winked and turned around before he saw Mingyu's expression.

He did hear the deep groan and the whining that followed him all the way to the practice room though.

~

  1. _ Dogs are some of the most loyal animals. They will have your back for their entire lives._

"Hyung."

Silence.

"Hyuuung."

Pointed, deliberate silence.

"Hyung." Mingyu leaned down and placed impatient kisses on Wonwoo's face.

"Mmmm five more minutes..." Wonwoo muttered.

"You said that ten minutes ago." Mingyu bumped their noses together.

"I don't remember that..."

"That's because you’re getting old." Mingyu giggled.

"Yah. Rude." Wonwoo couldn't help but smile back, more at Mingyu's laughing face and less at the joke.

This was seriously the best way to wake up in the morning. Mingyu and he didn't always sleep on the same bed, but when they did, Wonwoo was blessed to not put an alarm for their early wake up. Mingyu always woke up before him and he could be trusted to wake Wonwoo up in the sweetest ways possible. Wonwoo didn't wake up cranky anymore. That was a huge achievement.

Mingyu had barely coaxed him into sitting up when loud bangs were heard from their door. There was only one small drawback with sharing a bed with Mingyu.

"I'm coming in, you better be up and not sucking faces!" Jihoon yelled.

Mingyu's roommate was one very supportive but very done with everything Lee Jihoon.

"We're up, we're up!" Mingyu yelled back and dragged Wonwoo away from the bed.

Jihoon entered the room cautiously and only relaxed when he saw them both standing in the middle of the room, fully dressed. It wouldn't be the first time he had walked in something that was better left unseen.

"Jeonghan saved you breakfast. Hurry up and eat it." Jihoon dryly pointed towards the kitchen.

Wonwoo yawned and placed his head on Mingyu's shoulder. He wasn't hungry, it was too early for food. But he knew he had to. There was a long day waiting ahead of them.

"Thank you hyung. We'll get right to it." Mingyu placed an arm around Wonwoo's waist and gently pushed them both forward.

They didn't look back as they walked away, and they missed the slight grin Jihoon had as he watched their backs. Jihoon had been there from day one, and he always felt unnaturally proud for how things have turned out.

Then there was Jeonghan, the devil incarnate. Wonwoo couldn't count how many times he has cornered them both to ask embarrassing questions. _It is for your safety_, he always told them. One thing was for certain. He hadn’t needed to give them _the talk_, much less drag poor Seungcheol into it. Wonwoo was certain that their leader was still traumatized about it.

"Good morning to Korea's best couple." Jeonghan said, tossing them both a granola bar and a small bottle of orange juice. Wonwoo could probably eat that without problem.

Seungcheol and Jisoo were in the kitchen next to Jeonghan, munching their own food. Seungcheol looked miserable, while Jisoo's smirk mirrored Jeonghan's.

"You might want to stir clear from the kitchen today." Seokmin suddenly appeared behind Wonwoo and Mingyu, quickly guiding them to the living room.

"Why what's wrong?" Mingyu asked him.

"Jeonghan hyung was reading BDSM articles this morning, I imagine you're the reason why." Seokmin said pityingly.

Wonwoo groaned. This felt too much like he came out to his overprotective mother and now she was trying to be supportive and smothered him with useless knowledge. Wonwoo tried not to whine too much about it. His own mother probably wouldn't be as supportive as Jeonghan if she ever got an idea of what was going on.

"I'll talk to him later. Don't worry, I'll take that hit for both of us." Mingyu said and kissed Wonwoo's cheek.

"What a brave soul." Seokmin pretended to wipe a tear. "A true soldier."

"Please remember me after I fall." Mingyu continued being dramatic.

"Always, brother!" Seokmin bumped his fist on his chest.

Wonwoo took a bite out of his granola bar. It tasted like hay to him. But he still felt the remaining sweetness from Mingyu's morning kisses so it was fine.

And Mingyu was also going to take care of the Jeonghan issue. Mingyu had always been supportive, but ever since they got together Wonwoo felt like he finally had a pure ally in his life. Mingyu always had his back. They faced things together and suddenly, everything has become much easier.

Minghao had said that it was because a burden had been lifted from their shoulders. He, Junhui and Seungkwan were the only ones who had seen this coming. The others never expected that they would actually get together.

Their reactions when they found out varied. Chan was mostly confused, he was the one that took the most explaining to understand them. Soonyoung flat out cried tears of joy. He said it had been torture to see them dancing around each other for so many years. Jihoon probably cried too, even though nobody had any proof about it. And Hansol... he had thought they were already together.

Later, Seungcheol had told them how they had all agreed to ignore any signs that might have pointed to more than platonic feelings. They had thought it best to let them figure it out on their own, unless they started causing problems for the team. Seungcheol admitted how devastated he had during their last fight, because he thought that this was it, that he had to intervene and fix things between them. He was probably more relieved than anyone that they managed to work things out.

As relieved as Seungcheol was, so stressed their managers got. They had to sign new contracts to keep quiet about the whole ordeal, even if they resigned from the job. Then, they had an extensive talk with all the members about how to properly hide this from the public. They talked about how one day, Korea might be ready to let idols date whoever they wanted, but that day was not today.

Wonwoo didn't mind. As long as he had Mingyu, he was ready to face anything. And Mingyu had made it pretty clear that he wasn't going anywhere.

"Yo, manager's late, we leaving in an hour." Hansol suddenly burst through their dorm without knocking.

"Great. More time to get that high score." Mingyu said and made himself comfortable on a couch, taking his phone out of his pocket.

"I'm going to continue my book then." Wonwoo said and grabbed his thick book from the table, before sitting at the other edge of Mingyu's couch.

"Mind if I join you here? It is a literal mess upstairs." Hansol said and Mingyu waved him over.

"What do you mean a mess?" Seokmin asked.

"I mean that Seungkwan spilled his coffee in the kitchen and before he could clean up, Soonyoung hyung slipped on it and knocked down Seungkwan's other coffee that was still hot, and now he is laying on the floor like a burnt starfish." Hansol sighed.

"Oh my god! I have to help him!" Seokmin said, puffing his chest.

"Don't worry, Junhui hyung's on it. He is spreading yogurt on the bruises. He said something about how it helps with the burns. Oh, and Chan and Minghao hyung are locked in Minghao hyung's room and declared they are not coming out under no circumstances." Hansol continued.

"Oh my god no, yogurt? Seriously? We have ointment down here for the burns." Seokmin said.

"Yeah, grab it and let's go upstairs." Jeonghan approached them too. "I have to rescue my innocent children."

"Well, good luck." Hansol yawned and fell on a chair, dismissing himself from the situation.

Wonwoo looked at Mingyu with an amused smile. Nobody could say their life wasn't interesting.

~

_And there you have it bros. Make sure you keep paying attention to your new dog. It will love you and be loyal forever so you have to make sure you love it back and take care of it. Dogs are family. Peace._

Wonwoo finished reading with a huge grin on his face. He didn't realize when he had begun smiling, but it was impossible not to with every memory coming back to him.

He quickly looked up from his phone and saw Mingyu shifting uncomfortably on his seat.

"Hey." Wonwoo called, stretching his foot to poke his thigh.

"Tell Minghao that everything is a lie and that I hate him. What did he send you? Is it something embarrassing? Ignore everything you just saw please I'll make sure-" Mingyu’s rumbling was abruptly stopped by a notification from his phone.

Wonwoo knew what was going to show on his screen.

**Wonu hyungie <3 has changed your nickname to woof <3**

**Wonu hyungie <3:** <3

Mingyu groaned and buried his face in his hands. He shook it desperately as Wonwoo chuckled, very proud of his achievement. This morning was getting better and better. He had to thank Minghao for this.

**Me:** thanks

**Me:** really I appreciate it

**Minghao:** np

**Minghao:** it was only fair after the article I sent Mingyu

**Me:** wait what article

**Minghao:** whoooop shouldn't have said that haha

Wonwoo looked up again and eyed Mingyu's phone. He was curious now.

"Mingyu, what did Minghao send you?" he asked.

"Nothing?" Mingyu said with a high-pitched voice.

"Come on, show me." Wonwoo scooted over, but Mingyu took his phone and held it above his hands to block him. "Hey!" Wonwoo tried to reach it, but Mingyu wrestled his hands away.

"No hyung, it's nothing I swear!" Mingyu said.

"If it's nothing let me see!" Wonwoo got on his knees, but Mingyu kicked him and he fell on his stomach over Mingyu's legs.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry!" Mingyu said immediately and lowered his hands to check on the other.

Wonwoo used the chance to try and grab the phone again, but Mingyu quickly held it away.

"Come on Mingyu, don't make this harder than it needs to be!" Wonwoo said and started climbing over his lap.

"No!" Mingyu yelled and in a moment of panic he threw his phone away, all the way to the kitchen.

"Ahh!" Seungcheol ducked when he saw the thing close to hitting him.

The phone landed on the wall behind him and fell to the ground with a slam, the battery flying away and the screen cracking.

"What are you guys doing?" Jisoo asked calmly, sipping his orange juice.

Wonwoo and Mingyu exchanged shocked looks. It looked like neither of them has expected this would happen.

"Oh my god, what did I do?" Mingyu was the first to begin screaming.

"I can't believe we broke your phone again!" Wonwoo groaned and let all his weight drop on Mingyu.

"Oof. I can't believe I broke the phone you bought me after..." Mingyu begun saying, but Wonwoo quickly slapped a hand over his mouth.

"After what?" Seungcheol asked, holding the phone pieces on his hand and approaching dangerously.

"Nothing!" Mingyu and Wonwoo yelled at the same time.

It was maybe because Wonwoo was sitting on Mingyu's lap, with Mingyu casually having thrown an arm around his waist that Seungcheol decided to drop it. Wonwoo knew that this awkwardness around them wouldn't last for long, so he had decided to make the most out of it as long as it did. He couldn't afford Seungcheol to have him pay for those repairs on the living room after all this time. He had to buy Mingyu a new phone after all.

"So much for finding a more quiet place. It is as much of a mess down here as upstairs." Hansol mumbled from the chair next to them.

It wouldn't be long until their manager came to pick them up. Wonwoo patted Mingyu's cheek and got off of him. He stretched and went to get dressed, the drama with Minghao's articles forgotten. He had a long day ahead of him. But it was a day he was going to face with Mingyu on his side, so it was okay. Mingyu always made everything better after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end ahhhh.  
This fic wasn't planned at all, I have no idea where it came from.  
Also, sorry if this isn't the best quality, I always struggle when I write Wonwoo's pov because he is my bias and I JUST CAN'T OKAY, HE IS PERFECT.  
I always need to remind myself to make him look like a human and not a god.  
This was it then. Thank you for reading! Feedback is always appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
Feedback is always appreciated!  
I miss my cat TT


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